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Deans Discussion Group Meeting 2-2002

Meeting 2/2002 of the Deans Discussion Group was held at 4.00 pm on Tuesday, 19 March 2002 in the Monash City Office, Level 11, 30 Collins Street, Melbourne.

(Secretarial note: Members are invited to note that the meeting of the Deans Discussion Group scheduled for 3 April has been rescheduled to Tuesday, 7 May 2002.)

NOTES

Pre-dinner discussion

1. Attendance and apologies

There were present:

Professor D A Robinson, Vice-Chancellor and President, Presiding

Professor P LeP Darvall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President, (Research and Development)

Professor A W Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic and Planning)

Ms A Crook AO, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Resources)

Professor B Mackenzie, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Gippsland Campus

Professor J K Redmond, Dean, Faculty of Art and Design

Professor H Le Grand, Dean, Faculty of Arts

Professor G Palmer, Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics

Professor S Willis, Dean, Faculty of Education

Professor M Brisk, Dean, Faculty of Engineering

Professor J Rosenberg, Dean, Faculty of Information Technology

Professor S Parker, Dean, Faculty of Law

Professor L Piterman, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Professor C Chapman, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy

Professor R Norris, Dean, Faculty of Science

Apologies:

Professor N Saunders, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

In attendance:

Mr T Pollock, Executive Director, Office of International Affairs

Mr Neil Bradley, Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Resources)

Secretary:

Mr T Calder, Director, Secretariat and Executive Services

2. Notes

The Notes of meeting 1/2002 held on 22 January 2002 were received and noted. The following updates on matters discussed at meeting 1/2002 were provided:

ICT Centre of Excellence

Professor Rosenberg informed members that a joint venture agreement between members of the Federation consortium would shortly be finalised. Three bidding groups were to be interviewed with the interview for the Federation Consortium scheduled for 4 April.

ARC Grants

Professor Darvall informed members that approximately 246 ARC and 140 NHMRC grant applications had been submitted.

3. Matters arising from the Notes of meeting 1/2002

3.1 Further update on visit to Hong Kong by Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic and Planning)

Professor Lindsay provided members with an update on recent discussions with City University, Hong Kong. Further, members were informed that discussions were progressing on a range of matters and that a further report would be brought back for consideration by the Committee of Deans / Deans Discussion Group.

3.2 Syllabus Plus

This item was added to the agenda. The matter was initially discussed at meeting 2/2002 of the Committee of Deans.

Mr Neil Bradley was in attendance for this item. Mr Bradley informed members that the first phase of the project had involved loading the 2001 manual timetable into the Syllabus Plus database and generating a print/electronic timetable. Other aspects of Phase 1 noted by Mr Bradley included the need to develop a more user-friendly interface, the requirement to meet the re-enrolment timetable, the Change Request Interface (CR1) did not include full functionality and the slow response time of the system.

Mr Bradley noted that as a result of the slow response time, some faculty timetablers had entered data via spreadsheets which circumvented data validation routines and had resulted in data corruption which was time consuming to correct. Mr Bradley informed members that over the next month the timetable for semester 1 would be consolidated, user feedback on required system improvements would be requested and a series of workshops scheduled.

Summarising other major issues identified during Phase 1, Mr Bradley commented on the following:

  • a draft timetabling policy was being developed which would be referred to a reference group of senior academics for comment;

  • further feedback from Deans would be requested over the coming month;

  • the need to further improve the user interface possibly by the inclusion of pull-down menus;

  • the data relationship between Syllabus Plus and Allocate Plus needed to be reviewed; and

  • the use of clones/aliases needed to be accommodated within the implementation plan for Syllabus Plus.

Invited by the Vice-Chancellor to raise any additional matters relating to the implementation of Syllabus Plus, members raised the following:

  • instances had occurred where lecture theatres were overcrowded and classes had to move after one hour of a two-hour lecture.

In response, members were informed that Syllabus Plus did not allocate students to rooms, staff scheduled students to rooms and therefore staff had to be cognisant of room capacity when undertaking this task.

  • Following discussion of the resourcing of the project team, Ms Crook advised members that the project team would continue to be appropriately resourced and directed during the next phase of the project.

  • A member noted the importance of including an interface for Allocate Plus as part of the next phase.

  • Timetables did not currently include the name of the academic staff member, just the room number and course number.

  • Ad-hoc bookings could take up to four days to be confirmed which has resulted, in some instances, in staff members re-entering the booking due to the lack of a confirmation of the initial booking.

Concluding the discussion, the Vice-Chancellor thanked Mr Bradley and members for their input and suggestions.

4. Monash College and Monash University English Language Centre

The Vice-Chancellor introduced the item and noted that in accordance with the "planning and approval process for partnerships, centres and campuses" detailed in Global Development: 2002-2006 both papers (Attachments 3 and 4) would be considered at the next meeting of the Vice-Chancellor’s Group.

Mr Tony Pollock advised members that the two proposals were at different stages of development and that comments on the proposals by Deans would assist the discussion at the next meeting of the Vice-Chancellor’s Group.

Proposal to Offer Monash University English Language Programs in Taiwan

Mr Pollock advised members that the document (Attachment 4) included two models for establishing the program – the preferred model of licensing a partner and the alternative of establishing a stand-alone Monash Language Centre.

During discussion, members noted the importance of the contractual relationship with the licensee, the need for clearly stated quality assurance processes and the important role English Language Centres fulfil in attracting international students to Monash.

Concluding the discussion, the Vice-Chancellor noted that a set of strategies for the establishment of English Language Centres should be developed.

Delivery of Monash College and English Language Programs in Qingdao China

Professor Palmer tabled a paper titled Comments on Monash International (M1) - Quingdao Creative School.(QCS): "Agreement for the Delivery of Monash College and Monash English Language Programs in Qingdao China, Final October 2001".

During discussion, members raised the following issues:

  • A member noted that the penalty for failure to adhere to the contract was cancellation of the agreement – an unlikely option. It was suggested that a range of financial penalties be considered for inclusion in the agreement.

  • It was suggested that further background material outlining the background of the Quingdao Creative School, its staffing level, experience and skills would assist consideration of the proposal.

  • Members discussed the appropriateness of the titles Monash College and Monash University English Language Centre and the range of messages they may send depending on the geographic location of the Centre/College.

Members were advised that the issue of identity was under review by the Monash Identity Reference Group.

Dinner Discussion

5. University Self-Review – key emerging themes

The Vice-Chancellor introduced the topic and noted that the document University Self-Review: Key Emerging Themes had been one of two major topics discussed by Council at its special meeting on 11 February 2002. The document titled Emerging Areas for Action, prepared by Mr David Phillips, Special Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor included issues raised during the Council discussion.

Professor Parker provided members with an update of the self-review process and an overview of the key emerging themes. The Vice-Chancellor reported that the document Emerging Areas for Action identified areas for attention and included outcomes from the University self-review and the input of members of Council.

Noting that Council would receive a report on the response to the self-review at its meeting scheduled for 2 September, the Vice-Chancellor invited members to comment on the self-review process and distributed documents.

The following comments were provided by members:

  • it was suggested that future documents could better differentiate between aspects that Monash did well and those that it had identified as needing further improvement/development;

  • Monash’s unique multi-campus structure spanning urban, rural and national borders necessitated the need to develop quality processes for a range of markets;

  • in relation to governance issues, a member noted the importance of emphasising differences where it was appropriate;

  • members discussed the issue of equivalence of outcomes, quality and fitness for purpose and the equivalence of standards in relation to program outcomes;

  • Heads of departments/schools must be supported with improved professional development and training;

  • noting the complexity of Monash, it was suggested that governance structures could be better communicated to staff; and

  • commenting on the issue of the "student experience", it was suggested that improved feedback also be sought from alumni.

Concluding the discussion, the Vice-Chancellor thanked members for their candid and thoughtful comments and noted that the outcomes of meetings of the Deans Discussion Group continued to make a significant contribution to progressing the important issues at Monash.

6. Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Deans Discussion Group will be held at 4 pm on Wednesday, 3 April 2002 in the City Office. (Secretarial note: Deans Discussion Group Meeting 3/2002 was rescheduled to Tuesday, 7 May 2002)

The next meeting of the Committee of Deans will be held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 22 April 2002 in the Sir George Lush Room.

Distribution

Vice-Chancellor and President

Deputy Vice-Chancellors and Vice-Presidents

Pro Vice-Chancellors

Deans